Japanese Sonic 3 with American Sonic and Knuckles?

[markeconrad]

And just an atheistic question, what did this setup look like?

Haha, you godless fool...

[fireaza]

Lol, I meant aesthetic

Okay, that's neat. Now the question is are there any significant gameplay, music, or design changes between the American and JP versions of Sonic 3? As I understand, the lock on technology took Sonic and Knuckles code and simply patched Sonic 3.

There is the possibility that something neat could come out of this.

As far as I'm aware, the only difference between the Japanese and English versions of the Sonic games is Tails is called Miles. Granted, I don't actually own any copies of the games, so if someone who does would like to confirm/deny, that would be good.

[theclaw]

Well Sonic 2 has the Tails or Miles toggle in memory. Loaded when called for.

See Master System passed down an ability to Genesis and Game Gear, of letting cartridges store both language modes. Then check the hardware to decide.

A few games had tiny changes like that. Some toggled between English or Japanese. Others had major differences or even used the feature as a region lockout.

Interestingly due to this... At least two Japan-only Game Gear games contain entire English translations both never released in the west, AND their own market's system could not access them:
Ronald McDonald in Magical World
Puyo Puyo 1

[fireaza]

Ah, so playing on a Mega Drive with it's language set to English would have Tails called "Tails" instead of "Miles" even if you're playing a Japanese copy of the game? So regardless of the mix of cartridges (Eng S&K + Jpn Sonic 3), it will be running the English version? Wouldn't this have made the development process slower? You'd need to wait for the English script to be ready before you could even release it in your home country!

Also, how does saving work? Does S&K have it's own battery backup, or does it just use Sonic 3's?

[Curlypaul]

It would make it slower, but ultimately you could burn the same data to every ROM in all the carts that you are going to ship around the world. This could save a lot of cash as each ROM mask would cost a shit load.

Not many games used it this functionality though.

[theclaw]

Ah, so playing on a Mega Drive with it's language set to English would have Tails called "Tails" instead of "Miles" even if you're playing a Japanese copy of the game? So regardless of the mix of cartridges (Eng S&K + Jpn Sonic 3), it will be running the English version? Wouldn't this have made the development process slower? You'd need to wait for the English script to be ready before you could even release it in your home country!

Also, how does saving work? Does S&K have it's own battery backup, or does it just use Sonic 3's?

Pretty much. Literally as far as data goes, world games have the same chips everywhere. No such thing as an "English" or "Japanese" version. Or even PAL.

It's foolish to pay a cent more for PAL T-Mek and Primal Rage 32X if you're just looking to play them.